Torchmate CAD CAM is necessary on all conventional air plasma CNC cutting tables manufactured by Lincoln Electric Cutting Systems. We recognize that some of our customers are already familiar with other CAD programs, so we’ve developed this tutorial to teach those customers how to import their designs from other CAD programs. We also instruct you how to correct the file if it did not import exactly how you designed it.

There can be discrepancies in reading these files, so it is important to pay attention to this video if you are using other CAD programs to design your metal parts. The most important element of this tutorial is the DXF Import Options Window that pops up upon placement of your imported DXF file. The window prompts you for how you would like this file to be translated; whether you want polyarcs or polygons, inches or millimeters, and whether you want to close your shapes and remove duplicates. The latter settings will all depend on how your unique design program works with Torchmate CAD. It’s best to import them both with and without these options selected to see what produces the best result.

We also introduce the Connect Path tool that allows our customers to connect paths within a set distance between points. Manipulating this number can be important in saving the amount time you dedicate to manually joining the nodes. Joining and breaking nodes will be gone over in the node editing tutorial later in this video series.